The Internet has provided new avenues for delivering advertising to consumers. One early form of Internet advertising is the “banner ad,” which entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. The banner ad is intended to attract traffic to a website of the advertiser. The advertisement is typically constructed from a high-aspect ratio image, often employing animation or sound to maximize presence. These advertisements can be positioned somewhere near the primary content for that web page (e.g., from a newspaper article or a collection of web portal links). The typical banner ad is purchased in bulk by the advertiser from a publisher of the web page. Often, the content of the advertising bears no relationship to the interests of the viewer, and therefore makes it unlikely that the viewer will attempt to click through to the website of the advertiser. In many cases, publishers over the Internet do not interact directly with advertisers, but instead rely on intermediaries to secure the advertisers.
Some website operators will tailor the advertisements served to users based on respective activity of the users. For example, when a user enters a search query on a search engine website, the website may deliver advertisements based on the search terms in addition to delivering the requested content. In this case, the content provider (i.e., the search engine website) is the intended recipient of the search query from the user, so the content provider is able to provide targeted advertising based on the search query or the results from the relevant search websites. Thus, the content provider possesses the information necessary to make determinations regarding the content and context from the user.
In broadcast television, advertisers utilize context-targeted advertising in which the commercials shown during breaks in the television programming are related to the content of the television programming or the target demographic of the television programming.
The entities that own computer networks, their agents, and have access to the information flow on such networks are hereafter referred to as “Service Providers” (SP). In various ways, these service providers facilitate movement of packetized information in a computer network. Such service providers typically provide value-added services, such as providing “last-mile” hook-up of the network to the home, office, or mobile product, using networks the service providers own or networks owned by other service providers.
Service providers may examine information from content being communicated over the service providers' networks. For example, service providers today examine data packets to inspect for computer viruses, thereby enhancing the security of the network. In some cases, a service provider may even be able to obtain the first-hand knowledge how a subscriber browses the Internet for relevant information. However, the service provider is not being fully equipped to provide commercial information that may be of high interest to its subscribers.
It would therefore be desirable for a service provider to be able to deliver targeted advertising content based on information communicated over the network of a service provider.